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Launching a Start-up: a Leap Into the Unknown

How-to

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Launching a business from a blank page plunges you into a swirl of emotions taking you from having a lump to butterflies in the stomach in a single instant. This combo of risk and excitement becomes the main driver, that thing that allows you to step into the unknown, to venture far from your comfort zone.

Having faith when you’re starting from scratch

“When you start from scratch, you don’t have a product, customers, contract or supplier,” he explains. The president of this company that makes wearable Hexoskin products explains “everything has to be in place and you have to believe in yourself before you run out of money.”

Time often works against start-up entrepreneurs. “When you invest in a product, it has to be profitable quickly. Timing is everything!” explains Mr. Fournier. But Hofstadter’s law is merciless: everything takes longer than expected. “Unexpected things come up and you end up working 80 hour weeks,” explains the Carré Technologies president, who, in the past had to deal with water leaks and fire on his premises, and inconsistent suppliers. “Once a supplier skipped a stage of production. Even if he didn’t charge us, he still ruined $30,000 worth of material. And we lost three months of work…”

The irresistible allure of the unknown

Luckily, there are also happy surprises along the path to becoming an entrepreneur. Like when the Super Bowl asks you to provide your management services to control the access to its VIP events. Tensions can run high when you only have two months to deliver your product. That’s exactly what happened to the team at Connect&Go. “It was almost impossible to finish in that timeframe,” recalls Dominic Gagnon, cofounder of Connect&Go which specializes in RFID solutions and wristbands. “We had six weeks to create a system with the security requirements that are standard for the United States.”